Jabari Smith will be a challenge for Kentucky. (Auburn Athletics Photo)
Kentucky fans might not know a lot about Auburn freshman Jabari Smith — but they probably will after Saturday’s Southeastern Conference showdown at Auburn. Smith was a five-star recruit ranked as high as No. 6 in his recruiting class. He’s the highest-rated player ever to sign with the Tigers. Now some even are projecting him as a possible No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft this summer.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl admits Smith has “absolutely exceeded my expectations” and that’s not easy to do because Pearl had big hopes for Smith.
He had a career-high 25 points in a win at Alabama on 8-for-14 shooting, including 3-for-6 from 3-point range. He’s averaging 15 points, six rebounds, and two assists per game.
“He wants to get better,” Pearl said after the Alabama win where Smith had seven rebounds, four blocks, and two steals. “When he doesn’t do something, and we call him out on it, he’ll get to the next play and try to improve on it. I don’t think any level of success is going to change him,” Pearl said.
But get this — Pearl says his freshman might be the best shooter he’s ever had. Think about some of the big-time shooters Pearl has coached and that’s high praise.
“I knew he was a great jump shooter; I just didn’t know he was going to be the best jump shooter I ever coached,” Pearl said.
Smith went for 25 points, shooting 8-of-14 from the floor, 3-of-6 from deep, and 6-for-10 from the free-throw line, adding seven rebounds, four blocks, and two steals.
3 Responses
Sooner or later you gonna face players like his caliper and it will help for the long run.
UK and Auburn have played 17 games, and as their only regular season matchup approaches, their average adjusted net efficiencies are almost identical with UK holding a slight edge, 0.29 ppp as compared to 0.28 ppp. That means Auburn’s home court advantage provides Auburn a slight difference in establishing a theoretical game margin of about 3 points.
Both teams’ ANE has been on a rising trend. UK’s ANE began rising after its loss at Notre Dame in its 9th game of the year while Auburn’s ANE has rising since it lost in its 4th game to Connecticut in double overtime on a neutral court.
Each team has turned in poor games. UK has had game ANE’s of 0.10 ppp or lower twice, in games 8 and 9. Since then, UK has had 4 game ANEs above 0.4 ppp and two of those were about 0.6 ppp. Auburn has had one game below 0.1 ppp, games 3, and since game 4, Auburn has had 3 games at or above 0.4 ppp and no games under 0.2 ppp.
Auburn has been more consistent than UK this season with a swing between its best single game performance to its worst of 0.38 ppp while UK’s range between its best and worst performances has been 0.51 ppp. However, UK’s wider range occurs because of its very high peak games as each team’s poorest games have about the same game ANE.
UK played its strongest game of the season in its last game this past Saturday (Game ANE 0.6 ppp) while Auburn last game this past Saturday was below its average (Game ANE 0.24 ppp).
The SEC Schedule makers must reside in Auburn, Alabama given the favorable scheduling it received as compared to other SEC contenders including LSU, Tennessee, and UK. This will be Auburn and UK’s only encounter, and Auburn only faces LSU once (at Auburn) in a game Auburn has already won, and Tennessee once in late February in Knoxville. In comparison, UK must play LSU and Tennessee twice, Tennessee must play LSU and UK twice, and LSU must play UK and Tennessee twice.
So, this coming Saturday’s game is not just a huge matchup of SEC title contenders, it will be decisive not only for Auburn and UK but for Tennessee and LSU.
Oscar will have his hands full with Kessler. Toppin and Collins will have to step up and guard Smith. I think, between the two of them, that they can keep him in check which would be a 14 & 5 game. Oscar will have to be careful not to pick up cheap fouls. He needs to take more shots from 15 to 18 ft. as Kessler will not want to guard that far out. The Green/Wheeler matchup may be what decides this game.
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